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Day 2 Gets Rolling At Billabong Pro Junior Series Canggu In Bali

Tamaroa McComb. Photo courtesy Steve Robertson.

August 14, 2008: – – Ideal 1.25m (4 feet) surf greeted many of the worlds top 20 year and under surfers for day one of the Billabong Pro Junior Series Indonesia event at Canggu (Pronounced Chung- gu) in Bali. The surfers responded to the waves by going big throughout the 16 heats today lead by Hawaiian surfer Torry Meister (Big Island Hawaii).

Meister convincingly won both his opening round heats, exciting the local crowds with a progressive display of both powerful on face moves and multiple successful high risk aerials. Meister amassed the highest wave and heat score tally in his round two heat win which included an outstanding 9.25 ride.

Clearly enjoying his surfing time in Indonesia Meister commented after his heat win by saying “ Canggu is such an amazing high quality performance wave and just perfect to surf competitively in – The wave offers so much scope to perform a variety of big moves – bottom turns, power carves and aerials – get the right wave and it’s all there, I love it here and can hopefully do well in tomorrows round three and beyond!”

Meister defeated one of the event favorites in his opening round today in Tahiti’s Tamaroa McComb who is the current ISA World under 16 champion. Fortunately for McComb, he placed second in both his round one and two his four man heats to also advance through to round three.

McComb is slightly hindered at this stage of the event, relying on other people’s equipment to surf following a trip to some nearby remote Indonesian Islands where he broke all three of his own surfboards last week. “ I’m a little lucky to get through to round three with second placings but hopefully tomorrow I can start to win” said McComb after his second round placing behind young Australian talent Davey Cathels (Narrabeen Sydney).

Heath Joske. Photo courtesy Steve Roberston.

“I’m riding my team manager Sasha Stockers boards and just getting used to them at this stage and I need to adjust – The waves are great though and by tomorrow I should be good, hopefully,” Davey Cathels capitalized on McComb’s situation by notching up a very impressive heat win which included two strong high 7 point rides to take the win and advance to tomorrows high seeded round.

“That’s the first time I’ve beaten Tamaroa so it feels really good as I think it’s the fourth time we’ve met – I’m really well suited to this wave and would love to get a good result here,” said Cathels who placed 5th in the opening event here in Bali two months ago.

Cathels has recently focused all his attention on his surfing career, abandoning full time study to tackle his sport – “ School wasn’t working for me at the start of the year so I figured it was time to really work on my surfing – I’ve spent a lot of time surfing Indonesia and New Zealand recently and I’m feeling good for a strong result but it’s an outstanding field here and this will be a hard event to win.”

Similar excellent conditions are forecast for tomorrow which sees the introduction of the event and series top seeds which includes current number 1 and 2 rated surfers on the series Nick Vasicek (AUS/Gold Coast) and local surfer Ketut Yoga Semadhi along with opening series event winner Heath Joske (AUS).

With double points attached to this final event of the Billabong Pro Junior Series Indonesia, the race for the Series 2008 title is wide open. Others to impress in today’s waves included Hawaii’s Granger Larsen, New Zealand’s Matt Hewitt, and Australian’s James Woods (Gold Coast), Ryan Callinan (Newcastle), Ice Periera-Ryan (Gold Coast) and Noah Lane (Sunshine Coast).

Attached Complimentary Image: Tamaroa McComb (Tahiti) powers off the top to advance through his round two heat at Canggu in Bali today. Web highlight packages will be available during the event and notifications will be emailed out. A newsfeed will be available on the final day of the event. Notification of gateway, shot lists and copy will be emailed to television newsrooms.

An additional fee has also been added for entry into this years Canggu event with Indonesian and International athletes alike needing to fill a “Billabong Bag ‘O’ Trash” for entry. This initiative aimed at cleaning up some of the rubbish accumulating on Bali beaches will see some of the world’s best juniors donning the gloves and grabbing a bag with the aim to inspire locals into some positive environmental action.

Support for this program has come with the the inclusion of the R.O.L.E Foundation who will oversee an environmental program aimed at actively engaging and educating local surfers in the importance of caring for our environment.

About The Billabong Pro Junior Series: The Billabong Pro Junior Series is sanctioned by the Coca-Cola Indonesian Surfing Championships as part of the Pro Junior Championship Division. The series is the most lucrative on the Indonesian calendar, attracting surfers from Australia, Indonesia, USA, Hawaii, Malaysia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Europe.

In line with the ISC’s goal of seeing talented young Indonesian surfers on the WQS and eventually on the WCT, Billabong is delighted to be an integral part of attaining this goal, as the Billabong Pro Junior Series is widely recognized as the premiere career booster for surfers aged 20 and under with world renown surfers such as Andy Irons and Joel Parkinson having launched their careers with wins at the Billabong ASP World Junior Championships.